End of the dog days of summer

The weather has been cooling down around here from a hot 110 degrees down to a freezing 62 degrees. 62 degrees! I don’t know how people survive in such cold climates. If it ever drops below 60 I for one am calling in sick to work! Okay, I am off my rant. Anyway, with the cooler weather it is now possible for Onyx to accompany me in the car on my outings. This is something she loves to do. Although at the end of every summer, due to a dogs VERY short attention span she tends to be skittish the first few times. I went to take her out a few days ago and at first, when I called her, she went blazing for the front door expecting a walk – when she saw me by the garage door her ears dropped and she went scrambling for her crate, the one safe spot she knows she is safe from vet appointments. I tried to talk calmly to her, explain to her that, had it been a real vet appointment I would have closed her crate door before she knew what was happening. She put her head between her paws clearly not buying my weak explanation. She was not coming out. I went to the closet where I stored her leash and rattled it. I looked over and her head was peering out from her crate – but she was NOT coming out. Remember what I said about a dogs short attention span? Maybe I was wrong. I used that trick when she had to take medicine awhile ago, apparently she remembered. So I decided to just wait until she put her paranoia away. I was in no hurry so I put the lash away and sat on the couch to read for a bit. About 10 minutes later she came wandering out and jumped up on the couch with a very smug “HA I beat you” expression on her face. I smiled at her and waited for her to get comfy. THEN I POUNCED! She tried to run but I already had her and she knew it. Once again her ears dropped and she calmly awaited her fate. We went out to the car and I put her in the front seat with the window rolled down. She quickly perked up; I mean after all there was an open window and lots of wind to deal with! I decided to stop at a local fast food restaurant to grab a burger and when I pulled up to the window and got my food Onyx went nuts. I could just see her mind thinking (WOW, you just pull up to this little window and they hand you delicious smelling food!! SIGN ME UP!!!!) LOL. Then we went off to run a few more short errands and headed for home. Needless to say she was much more accommodating when I needed to go out the next time. (although she looked a little crestfallen when I kept passing the fast food place!) Going to the vet next time is going to be a breeze!!!



I hope everybody had a great Halloween!

"I better start procrastinating on writing this paper or I will never get around to putting it off until later."